DETROIT – Smack in the middle of a football stadium, 27 inches above the 50-yard line, sits a basketball court. Don’t adjust your HDTV set – this is the future of the NCAA tournament.

In an effort to increase attendance without putting fans in another zip code, Ford Field, home of the Midwest Region, and Reliant Stadium in Houston, site of the South Region, are debuting a new stadium configuration. Seats are closer to the court, which benefits fans, but players and coaches will have to adjust.

The team benches sit below the actual court. Coaches will have to decide whether to stand courtside, making it easier to communicate with players on the floor but harder to speak to players on the bench, or vice versa.

“I asked Malcolm Grant, the smallest person on the team, would he be able to see if he sat down,” said Villanova forward Dante Cunningham. “It was actually kind of funny, because the only thing you could see was his head above the court when he’s standing there.”

The players were mostly in favor of the new setup, although Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds said he was concerned about the possibility of injury caused by a player diving for a loose ball and falling off the court.

“The court elevation, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” said Kansas guard Russell Robinson Jr. of New York, who played his high school ball at Manhattan’s Rice High. “I can play on a roof, you know, if that’s where we have to play at.”